This morning I was able to go to the recently-dedicated BYU-I Conference center and hear Sister Julie B. Beck speak to sisters from all around our region! It was such a wonderful experience- I am so glad I dragged my poor sick self out of bed and went! It was so good to feel her love for us and for Christ. She bore great witness of our Savior, His mission, the Plan our Father in Heaven has for us, our role as Daughters of God and as women of the Church. She was the only speaker, although she didn't have a scripted talk. She opened the microphones up to audience members to ask her questions. It was very interesting to see questions from women of all ages and stages of life- new converts, those struggling with faith, young unendowed mothers, single mothers, Relief Society presidents from wards, mothers with grown children that have left the church, and more. From my notes:
- Listen to the Spirit. She said this so many times! Having the Spirit with us at all times allows us to fulfill our purpose fully. Without the Spirit we CANNOT make it through each day, uphold our covenants.
- Take leadership in our homes to create an atmosphere of love, protection, and a climate like the Temple has. We cannot rely on the testimonies of our husbands or fathers to teach the Gospel to others. We must be articulate women! We must read and study the scriptures so we can share the Gospel with others (and our children!). The words must be IN us before they are to come out of us.
- Satan has three main strategies he uses to attack us (Sister Beck called them "predatory messages"- no longer do Children of God have to search for bad things to do, the bad things are searching for us):
1. Satan tries to make us angry. About anything- to get us to raise our voices or be irritated or defensive or grumpy or whatever.
2. Apathy- to not care about values or sins or what people in the world are doing today- it doesn't matter- we don't have to worry.
3. 2 Nephi 28 calls it flattery, but Sis. Beck called it "entitlement". The feeling or belief that we are entitled to certain things, that we are owed something for whatever reason.
Sister Beck cautioned us to recognize these, and to fight this war. We are the Lord's defense, NOT pacifists!
-When asked the question about how to find and keep balance amid so many tasks that are put to us these days, she counseled that things fall into one of three categories, all of importance but some greater than others:
Essentials: prayer, scripture study, church attendance, temple worship, etc- those things we are commanded to do by the Lord
Necessary: housework, work, cleaning, cooking, creating order and peace in our homes, etc- those things that need to be done so we can live in this world
Nice to do: things like hobbies, movies, recreation
We need all these things, but they have their place. When we put the "Essentials" things first, it tells the Lord we are aligned with His will and He will support us through our days as we begin them with these few simple things. If we aren't doing the Essentials that will get us to Eternal Life, we are doing something else, and going somewhere else. The Lord loves our righteous offering, and as we get on our knees at the end of each day we ask the Lord "did I do ok today?" Some days it will be a guilty feeling, but He knows we can do our best.
- Bore testimony of the purpose and vision of Relief Society. She taught us that just as Christ called the 12, and the 70, He also then called women, in his conversation with Mary and Martha, as "an equal half of the divine pair" and just as priesthood leaders are set apart and ordained, women are essential to the Gospel and the Plan. Without strong women fulfilling their roles as wives, mothers, sisters, etc, the Plan would NOT work. Relief Society was an organization that was a part of the vision of His church from the time of Christ, not just Joseph Smith finding something for the women to do so they didn't feel left out.
- increase faith and personal righteousness
- strengthen families and homes
- seek out those in need
-"We believe in having children". Our title, according to His plan, is "MOTHER". She then spoke about the vast opportunities that our generations have been afforded- opportunities to do anything we wish- sports, music lessons, business classes, anything we want, women are able to do in this age. She then asked WHY. She told a beautiful, heart-wrenching story of a faithful pioneer mother who crossed the plains in a wagon while ill and with a small baby. the woman reached their log cabin home and wrote of the gratitude she felt for four walls that sheltered her from the cold winds, even if the roof leaked. She then wrote of the illness of her baby, how she and her husband did all they knew how to do for it, but it worsened and died. On the backs of these testimonies and sacrifices this church was built, and this country became what it is today. Why have WE of all God's children been blessed with so many opportunities, when so much sacrifice has been made to afford us these luxuries? Sister Beck answered that the reason is that we are being sent the best, strongest Spirits as our children- the Lord NEEDS our talents and experiences that we have had and been able to develop to raise the strongest, best generation of Saints in these Latter Days! She then told an amazing story about Sister Funk, who she had recently attended the funeral of. Sister Funk was General President of the Young Women when Sister Beck was a young woman. Sister Funk was an amazingly talented pianist, and at age 14, earned a grand piano from her father, who had promised her if she mastered a specific Chopin piece he would purchase one for her. A visiting world-renowned concert pianist (Leopold something) was staying in the house next to the Funks, and she went and sat on the porch to listen to him practice. He was playing the same Chopin piece that Sister Funk had learned! Leopold came out on the porch and demanded of her what she was doing. She answered " Listening to you practice! It's interesting... you seem to struggle with the same passages that I struggle with!" He denied that she could play that piece; "I'm the only one I know that can play that piece!" She affirmed that she could, indeed play that piece, and would play it for him. After that he invited her to come to New York and be his private student, for free. She received a priesthood blessing and was told that if she went to New York, she would fall away from the church and would not fulfill the great things the Lord had in store for her to do. She did not go to New York. Later in life, a prestigious symphony invited her to tour with them as their solo concert pianist. She again declined. She said that the greatest trial of her life was to have this gift, and not do the things she always dreamed of doing. She knew that the Lord owned her gift, and He owns all our gifts and NEEDS us to allow Him to call upon it as He needs to bring forth His work in these days.
-Sister Beck counseled us to not be afraid in this day- but to be faithful. This is a miraculous season- His work is going forth and we are a part of it!
- We must live in DEFENSE of His plan. Economies crumble, but the Prophet stands strong and confident and says we are building more temples- advance, advance, advance! She used the word DEFEND many times in her talk.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Broccoli Cheese Soup and Homemade Biscuits
I resolved a long time ago to start including things we are eating that we like. Maybe it will get me on here to post a little more often.
I LOVE finding new recipes... I don't read books, I read cooking blogs (lately anyway). Cooking is something that I very much enjoy (when there aren't two grumpy kids screaming at me... but then again most activities aren't that fun when there are two grumpy kids screaming) and I love creating things for my family to eat that they love. Audrey is very much a picky eater right now, and things she will eat changes from day to day, but I know that we are exposing her to many good foods and she will learn to eat it (I hope). This is what we had last night for dinner- and we really liked it! It was my first time ever making from-scratch biscuits and I don't think I'd ever go back to a mix or even a can- they were wonderful! And honestly not that much harder than making them from a mix! The soup was very good- I changed it to fit what I had in the house so it turned into a Broccoli Cheese soup rather than Vegetable Cheese Soup.
Vegetable-Cheddar Cheese Soup (from Betty Crocker Sunday Dinner Cookbook)
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup carrot, finely chopped (I didn't have this, so I left it out.)
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
2 medium zucchini, cut into 2-inch strips (I didn't have this either, so I used a head of broccoli instead)
(I also added 2 cloves of garlic, minced)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground mustard (I didn't have this, so I left it out)
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups half and half (I used 3 cups whole milk plus 1 cup water, plus 2 tsp chicken bullion)
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
Heat margarine in Dutch oven until melted. Cook Carrot, onion, and celery in margarine until softened. Stir in zucchini and cook about 2 min or until crisp-tender. (since I didn't use the zucchini, I just put all the veggies in at the first. I had to cook it a while to get all of it to be tender, and I still think I could have cooked it longer. What I will do next time is cook the broccoli first so it is already soft, and then chop it finely and add it to the mixture after the onion and celery are tender.)
Add flour and mustard, mix well. Gradually stir in chicken broth and half and half, stirring very frequently until mixture boils. Stir in cheese until melted. Serves 8.
Buttermilk Biscuits
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
About 3/4 cup buttermilk (sour milk worked fine for me- just under 3/4 cup milk, add a tsp or 2 of vinegar. Let it sit a few min- it might get a little chunky.)
Preheat oven to 450*F. In a large bowl, cut shortening into remaining ingredients, except buttermilk (use a pastry cutter or two knives), until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in just enough buttermilk so dough leaves the side of the bowl and forms a ball.
Lightly flour a work surface, turn dough out. Knead lightly 10 times (I didn't do this since I stirred a little more than I wanted to earlier.). Pat dough out to 1/2" thickness (I like to do 1/4" and then stack them 2 high when I bake them- then they come apart perfectly in the middle for butter/honey/jam/whatever). Cut with floured 2 1/2" biscuit cutter (I just used a glass, which I think was larger than this- maybe closer to 3 1/2" or 4".) Place 1" apart on an ungreased baking sheet. (Don't re-roll your scraps, just pat them together and bake them as they are.) Bake 10 to 12 min or until golden. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve hot.
There you are! This is what I'm planning on for today's dinner:
Sweet and Spicy Slow-Cooker Chicken (melskitchencafe.com)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 14oz can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Spray crockpot with non-stick spray (I forget this all the time and nothing explodes). Place all in crockpot Cook on high 4-6 hours or low 8-10 hours. Shred with two forks, season with salt and pepper to taste.
We use this for shredded chicken burritos- flour tortilla, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, crushed tortilla chips. YUM! Super easy and delicious!
I have the most insane itch to start another sewing project. I can't decide what. But I shouldn't- I want to have things more unpacked/in order before I do that. So I'm just dreaming... I love this website, and I really love her patterns here.
Audrey is very cute, and now binky-free. Last week I think it was Tuesday, I put her down for her nap and told her that this was her last nap with her binky, and after she woke up we would have to put them away. Her eyes got big and she said "My binky?" and was a little concerned, but she went down ok. When she woke up, she handed me her binky and I said, "we better get the other one, because now we have to put them away!" I took both binkies and she said " My hold them!" So I handed them to her and we walked out into the kitchen. I asked her where she wanted to put them, since we had to put them away. She walked around and thought about it, and finally said "The Trash!" I said "Are you sure?" and she said "Yeah, the trash!" and she threw them both away! I was impressed... it took her about an hour and a half to go to bed that night, lots of tears, but the night after was better. Things are going better- it's been about a week since we ditched them. It's not really the binky gone that's the issue, other than it's hard for her to learn to put her body into sleep mode without it. She comes out of her room and it's just a back-and-forth game. Naptime is still an adventure- she actually hasn't taken a nap for the past two days. I'm really hoping it's not a trend... and just a fluke. I really miss my breaks! But she goes down at night a lot easier with no nap... she only comes out once or twice. Ah the adventures of parenting. After this it will be potty training, or as she refers to it "poopy training". Audrey is learning lots of new words and talks more grown-up every day. She loves to quote movies and she loves to sing songs. Her new favorite movies are Wall-e and Emperor's New Groove. Her new favorite songs are the Wall-e song (thank you, for introducing my child to quality music!), the Toy Story song, and "green and yellow and pink and blue" or the Rainbow song. She loves the Toy Story characters and plays with and about them often.
Ethan is good- still not crawling but he LOVES to stand up. He cruises a little teeny bit. He is teething- his top one or two teeth is/are coming in, so he's been super grumpy the last couple days. He is still a very happy baby though, and loves people. He has a super cute smile and he is learning to say "bye" when he waves. He says meh-meh-meh-meh for me, and he does say deh-deh too for Thomas. It is fun to watch his personality come out as he grows. He loves Audrey but she drives him nuts sometimes. She LOVES playing with him but is still learning what he does and doesn't like (hitting, kicking, throwing things at his face...) He really likes the old school Sesame Street- it is the only thing that will hold both their attention during dinner- still magical!
Thomas is still working from home for Auto and Art, and he is loving it. I am able to go accompany for lessons on campus and he is able to watch the children when I go. We LOVE our new house- it is wonderful and glorious to live in a little more space in our house and in our land. Thomas is brimming with ideas for projects once the snow melts. We got all excited last week when it got so warm, we thought maybe spring was on its way! But then we got a few inches of snow this weekend. Not a ton, but enough that our road needed plowing a couple times.
Michael and Qait came to visit this President's day weekend- and it was good to see them. Qait is having a baby girl in July i think she said... we are so excited for them! We got to see Ender- he is getting so big! Audrey was very happy to see him, although one of the days he was here she kept calling him "Jason"... which was a friend of hers from the Mill Hollow ward. Not sure why she kept getting confused- the day before she knew exactly who he was. She was very happy to have a playmate for a few days. We are still settling into our new ward and she already recognizes friends from nursery when we sit in Sacrament meeting. We don't have callings but we are looking forward to it!
I LOVE finding new recipes... I don't read books, I read cooking blogs (lately anyway). Cooking is something that I very much enjoy (when there aren't two grumpy kids screaming at me... but then again most activities aren't that fun when there are two grumpy kids screaming) and I love creating things for my family to eat that they love. Audrey is very much a picky eater right now, and things she will eat changes from day to day, but I know that we are exposing her to many good foods and she will learn to eat it (I hope). This is what we had last night for dinner- and we really liked it! It was my first time ever making from-scratch biscuits and I don't think I'd ever go back to a mix or even a can- they were wonderful! And honestly not that much harder than making them from a mix! The soup was very good- I changed it to fit what I had in the house so it turned into a Broccoli Cheese soup rather than Vegetable Cheese Soup.
Vegetable-Cheddar Cheese Soup (from Betty Crocker Sunday Dinner Cookbook)
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup carrot, finely chopped (I didn't have this, so I left it out.)
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
2 medium zucchini, cut into 2-inch strips (I didn't have this either, so I used a head of broccoli instead)
(I also added 2 cloves of garlic, minced)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground mustard (I didn't have this, so I left it out)
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups half and half (I used 3 cups whole milk plus 1 cup water, plus 2 tsp chicken bullion)
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
Heat margarine in Dutch oven until melted. Cook Carrot, onion, and celery in margarine until softened. Stir in zucchini and cook about 2 min or until crisp-tender. (since I didn't use the zucchini, I just put all the veggies in at the first. I had to cook it a while to get all of it to be tender, and I still think I could have cooked it longer. What I will do next time is cook the broccoli first so it is already soft, and then chop it finely and add it to the mixture after the onion and celery are tender.)
Add flour and mustard, mix well. Gradually stir in chicken broth and half and half, stirring very frequently until mixture boils. Stir in cheese until melted. Serves 8.
Buttermilk Biscuits
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
About 3/4 cup buttermilk (sour milk worked fine for me- just under 3/4 cup milk, add a tsp or 2 of vinegar. Let it sit a few min- it might get a little chunky.)
Preheat oven to 450*F. In a large bowl, cut shortening into remaining ingredients, except buttermilk (use a pastry cutter or two knives), until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in just enough buttermilk so dough leaves the side of the bowl and forms a ball.
Lightly flour a work surface, turn dough out. Knead lightly 10 times (I didn't do this since I stirred a little more than I wanted to earlier.). Pat dough out to 1/2" thickness (I like to do 1/4" and then stack them 2 high when I bake them- then they come apart perfectly in the middle for butter/honey/jam/whatever). Cut with floured 2 1/2" biscuit cutter (I just used a glass, which I think was larger than this- maybe closer to 3 1/2" or 4".) Place 1" apart on an ungreased baking sheet. (Don't re-roll your scraps, just pat them together and bake them as they are.) Bake 10 to 12 min or until golden. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve hot.
There you are! This is what I'm planning on for today's dinner:
Sweet and Spicy Slow-Cooker Chicken (melskitchencafe.com)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 14oz can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Spray crockpot with non-stick spray (I forget this all the time and nothing explodes). Place all in crockpot Cook on high 4-6 hours or low 8-10 hours. Shred with two forks, season with salt and pepper to taste.
We use this for shredded chicken burritos- flour tortilla, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, crushed tortilla chips. YUM! Super easy and delicious!
I have the most insane itch to start another sewing project. I can't decide what. But I shouldn't- I want to have things more unpacked/in order before I do that. So I'm just dreaming... I love this website, and I really love her patterns here.
Audrey is very cute, and now binky-free. Last week I think it was Tuesday, I put her down for her nap and told her that this was her last nap with her binky, and after she woke up we would have to put them away. Her eyes got big and she said "My binky?" and was a little concerned, but she went down ok. When she woke up, she handed me her binky and I said, "we better get the other one, because now we have to put them away!" I took both binkies and she said " My hold them!" So I handed them to her and we walked out into the kitchen. I asked her where she wanted to put them, since we had to put them away. She walked around and thought about it, and finally said "The Trash!" I said "Are you sure?" and she said "Yeah, the trash!" and she threw them both away! I was impressed... it took her about an hour and a half to go to bed that night, lots of tears, but the night after was better. Things are going better- it's been about a week since we ditched them. It's not really the binky gone that's the issue, other than it's hard for her to learn to put her body into sleep mode without it. She comes out of her room and it's just a back-and-forth game. Naptime is still an adventure- she actually hasn't taken a nap for the past two days. I'm really hoping it's not a trend... and just a fluke. I really miss my breaks! But she goes down at night a lot easier with no nap... she only comes out once or twice. Ah the adventures of parenting. After this it will be potty training, or as she refers to it "poopy training". Audrey is learning lots of new words and talks more grown-up every day. She loves to quote movies and she loves to sing songs. Her new favorite movies are Wall-e and Emperor's New Groove. Her new favorite songs are the Wall-e song (thank you, for introducing my child to quality music!), the Toy Story song, and "green and yellow and pink and blue" or the Rainbow song. She loves the Toy Story characters and plays with and about them often.
Ethan is good- still not crawling but he LOVES to stand up. He cruises a little teeny bit. He is teething- his top one or two teeth is/are coming in, so he's been super grumpy the last couple days. He is still a very happy baby though, and loves people. He has a super cute smile and he is learning to say "bye" when he waves. He says meh-meh-meh-meh for me, and he does say deh-deh too for Thomas. It is fun to watch his personality come out as he grows. He loves Audrey but she drives him nuts sometimes. She LOVES playing with him but is still learning what he does and doesn't like (hitting, kicking, throwing things at his face...) He really likes the old school Sesame Street- it is the only thing that will hold both their attention during dinner- still magical!
Thomas is still working from home for Auto and Art, and he is loving it. I am able to go accompany for lessons on campus and he is able to watch the children when I go. We LOVE our new house- it is wonderful and glorious to live in a little more space in our house and in our land. Thomas is brimming with ideas for projects once the snow melts. We got all excited last week when it got so warm, we thought maybe spring was on its way! But then we got a few inches of snow this weekend. Not a ton, but enough that our road needed plowing a couple times.
Michael and Qait came to visit this President's day weekend- and it was good to see them. Qait is having a baby girl in July i think she said... we are so excited for them! We got to see Ender- he is getting so big! Audrey was very happy to see him, although one of the days he was here she kept calling him "Jason"... which was a friend of hers from the Mill Hollow ward. Not sure why she kept getting confused- the day before she knew exactly who he was. She was very happy to have a playmate for a few days. We are still settling into our new ward and she already recognizes friends from nursery when we sit in Sacrament meeting. We don't have callings but we are looking forward to it!
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